Case Study: BuildDirect (online home-improvement marketplace) scales to millions of SKUs and enables supplier self-service with Pimcore (PIM/MDM)

Home Improvement Supplier Builds Stronger Online Experience

BuildDirect is a Vancouver-based online marketplace that connects homeowners across North America directly with sellers of heavy building materials, removing retail markups and offering doorstep delivery through its Home Marketplace. As the company prepared for rapid SKU growth after launching the marketplace, its small product marketing team—able to merchandize only a few dozen items per week—faced a scaling bottleneck and needed a single, extensible “golden source” for product data, digital assets and web content with APIs and workflow customization.

BuildDirect selected Pimcore (implemented by partner Lightning Jar) and in two months migrated thousands of suppliers and trained an internal team to operate the system. Pimcore integrated with ERP/CRM systems, handled millions of SKUs, powered e‑commerce and CMS experiences, and provided a supplier extranet for self-merchandising and insights. The result was a scalable, internally owned PIM that increased merchandising capacity without adding headcount, enabled personalized and consistent shopping experiences, and delivered better data-driven pricing, logistics and sales intelligence.

BuildDirect

Tal Ball

Chief Technology Officer